TYBW Part 3 Reveals Nanao Ise and Kyoraku’s Complicated Past As They Defeat a Divine Foe

Summary

• Kyо̄raku’s past and Nanao’s connection are key to defeating Lille Barro in BLEACH
• Nanao takes on divine Lille Barro with the Shinken Hakkyо̄ken and mirrors his own attack
• Episode 11 beautifully adapts Kyо̄raku’s backstory and Nanao’s courage in defeating Lille

The following contains spoilers for BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 – The Conflict, Episode 11, “Shadows Gone”, available on Hulu and Disney+.

The 11th episode of BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 – The Conflict was a beautifully directed exploration of the relationship between Captain-Commander Shunsui Kyо̄raku and his faithful Lieutenant from his time as Captain of Squad 8, Nanao Ise, who became the key to victory against the Quincy Lille Barro.

Initially thought to have been dealt with through Kyо̄raku’s immensely powerful Bankai, the Quincy regenerated and reiterated his point that no “mere Shinigami’s Bankai” could put an end to him, an actual messenger of God. A powerful exploration of Kyо̄raku’s past and the history of Nanao’s family, the 11th episode of Part 3 was the closest to a perfect adaptation as it could have been.

Biblically Accurate Horror

Lille Barro’s Abrupt Return Puts Kyо̄raku Into A Tough Spot

The episode sets up the exploration into Kyо̄raku’s past by starting off with a flashback to a moment in his youth, during a time when he lived in his older brother’s manor. For a long time, Kyoraku did not get along with his brother, but that all changed when he married a certain lady from the Ise Clan, a woman who’d turn out to be the mother of Nanao Ise. Her kindness softened Kyо̄raku’s brother immensely, and this became like a salve that soothed the difficult relationship between them, so much so that Kyо̄raku, who disliked being at his brother’s manor, would routinely go over there for a nap.

In the scene, the lady offers Kyо̄raku’s brother, a Shinigami in the Gotei 13, a pinwheel-shaped hair ornament to match her own. One of the most striking aspects of this opening scene is the floral kimono worn by Kyо̄raku’s sister-in-law, a person for whom he recalls having great respect, and it is through these brief opening moments that we come to learn why Kyо̄raku is always wearing a woman’s kimono. After the opening credits, Kyoraku recalls a moment when he was gently awoken from slumber by his kind sister-in-law, but this memory is quickly interrupted.

While resting on the lap of his Zanpakutо̄ spirit, Ohana, Kyо̄raku is abruptly hit by a beam of energy that plows through his stomach, and immediately, the shadow realm in which he and Lille Barro were in over the course of Kyо̄raku’s Bankai begins to dissipate, revealing the headless body of Lille Barro as it regenerates a whole new head. He reveals a second Vollständig, a “segunda etapa”, if you will, that is even more of an eldritch horror than his previous form, with an elongated neck springing up from where his head was, and a small, owl-like head with a beak attached to the end of it.

He also has a golden Quincy Zeichen on his head and three pairs of golden wings that make him look like the most Biblically accurate of Yhwach’s angels. In Christian lore, the Seraphim are the highest-ranking celestial beings in the hierarchy of angels and serve as a “throne guardian” of God. They are often depicted with three pairs of wings, one pair to cover their head and face, one pair to cover their feet and the last pair to fly. Lille Barro’s appearance is very similar to the Seraphim, and this cements the idea that he is Yhwach’s oldest Sternritter.

Wake Up, Shunsui

Kyо̄raku’s Past Finally Catches Up

After Kyо̄raku’s gut is gouged out, he and Ohana from the divine monstrosity that Lille has become. Ohana has given up hope, telling Kyо̄raku to just go to sleep because their opponent could not even be killed with his Bankai. Kyо̄raku closes his eyes, and we are treated to a similar moment to the opening, where we hear the voice of his sister-in-law waking him up from a nap. Except, this time, it’s just someone who looks very similar: Nanao Ise, his Lieutenant. He tries to talk to her but coughs up a worrying amount of blood.

She tells him that he doesn’t have to talk, he just needs to hand over her Zanpakutо̄, something that she actually should have no knowledge of because it is Kyoraku’s most guarded secret. Her shouting attracted the monster, and Lille appears behind Nanao, but just before he can strike, Kyо̄raku manages to pull them both into his Zanpakutо̄’s shadow, where they can talk about the past… about the promise Kyoraku made to Nanao’s mother; the promise that led to her execution. It turns out that Nanao knew about it all along, about the fact that her mother entrusted her Zanpakutо̄ to Kyо̄raku.

The Ise Family Curse

Shunsui Kyо̄raku’s Biggest Regret

The Ises are a matrilineal family of priests, and according to the records, no male Ise has ever been born. They would routinely adopt sons-in-law from other families in order to maintain the line. Unlike most Shinigami, no member of the Ise family has their own personal Zanpakutо̄. With each generation, the head of the Ise Clan passes down the family Zanpakutо̄, a bladeless weapon used solely for rituals. Nanao’s mother believed that the mysterious artifact was the source of the curse that besieged their family, one which would invariably take the life of any man who married into the family, including Kyо̄raku’s older brother. When he died, Nanao’s mother was forced to return to the Ise manor, eventually coming to the decision to relinquish the sword in a desperate attempt to protect her daughter Nanao and the future of the Ise Clan. She entrusted the ritual sword to Kyо̄raku, whose Zanpakutо̄ spirit, Ohana, gave birth to a secondary spirit called Okyо̄; better known as “Kyо̄kotsu”, who then hid the sword within herself.

Kyо̄raku respected his sister-in-law and did as she asked, not knowing that a young Nanao was eavesdropping nearby. Nanao’s mother would then be charged with “misplacement of a sacred artifact” and sentenced to execution by the Central 46, a fact that Kyо̄raku only learned about when Ukitake told him the very next day. When she was still a fledgling Shinigami at Shin’o Academy, Nanao’s only means of identifying the man her mother spoke to that day was the hairpins that she’d once shared with her husband, and it wasn’t until she had been enlisted to Squad 8 that she realized who he was. With Nanao now asking for that very sword, Kyо̄raku’s past finally catches up to him, and he must now trust that she will be able to defeat the divine threat of Lille Barro with the bladeless sword known as Shinken Hakkyо̄ken – the Divine Eight Mirror Sword, an artifact that is usually just a ritual prop that is actually capable of defeating gods by reflecting their power.

Nanao’s Literally Brilliant First Fight

A Curse-Turned-Blessing Leads to Lille Barro’s Defeat

With Kyо̄raku incapacitated, Nanao takes it upon herself to defeat Lille, with the Shinken Hakkyо̄ken glowing brilliantly in the face of a foe that has effectively become a god. The light emanating from the sword is so bright that even the glowing Lille tries to cover his eyes, but Nanao explains that the fact that he sees the blade as blindingly bright means that he is precisely the kind of foe it would be effective against. She leaps into action and sinks the “blade” into his arm, easily lopping it off, but her lack of experience in combat with swords is fairly clear, and despite the effectiveness of the sword, she sustains injuries as she uses it to reflect some of Lille’s attacks, and fear sets in as she realizes just how terrifying a swordfight to the death can be. Lille loads up a powerful attack reminiscent of Frieza’s Supernova, with a pose that makes him look like “throughout Heaven and Earth, he alone is the Honoured One”.

Nanao is too scared to move, with both of her legs slashed during the encounter, but Kyoraku comes out of her shadow and holds the Hakkyо̄ken with her, telling her he will support her. She remembers all the other times Kyoraku has been there to protect her when she could barely stand, and regains composure. When the attack is unleashed, they turn the blade lengthwise to reveal the mirrors, and Lille is destroyed by his own ultimate attack. It takes the divine to defeat the divine, after all. Needless to say, the episode was incredibly well animated, but what really made it a great episode was the sprinkles of backstory and flashback from both Kyо̄raku and Nanao that gave context to their relationship, and BLEACH fans with sharp eyes and good memory will recall Nanao’s distress and Kyо̄raku’s attempt to comfort her during Rukia’s attempted execution – a seed sown several years before the truth of the Ise family would even be revealed. “Shadows Gone” is by far one of the best adapted episodes of the series, and given the trajectory of this final arc adaptation, it could very well be trumped by the episodes to come.